Grease

Tillie and I went to see Grease the musical yesterday. It was wonderful and I am sorry Cathy was sick and couldn't go but glad my daughter and I were able to spend a day together. When she was little Grease was one of her most favorite movies to watch. She was still able to quote it almost word for word and knew the words to all the songs. It was like watching a little of her childhood come back to life.  I loved this movie too and especially enjoyed the music so I shared it with her when she was quite young. Watching it was something we did together, Mother and daughter.

But looking at Grease with grown up eyes she kind of called me out. The message in this story is pretty wrong to teach our kids or even to expose them to. Sandy is a nice girl who doesn't fit in because she doesn't, "Drink or swear or rat her hair." and in the end she realizes the only way to be accepted is to hooch it up by dressing in tight, revealing clothes, smoking and acting more sexy. Not the message I should have sent to my daughter or the message I want to send to her. But it was a fun movie with great music, does that count for something?

I tried to justify it that the point was that she was self righteous and judgmental and in the she was accepted because she was more accepting of others. Hogwash! This was a booboo I made and now I have to own it. It is still nice that we share the memory of watching it but I admit it was a poor choice then. Now that she is an adult, it was  good we could talk about the whole not giving up ones values to fit in. We both recognize how difficult it is in the world today for kids to live by their values with all the peer pressure and media saying basically just do what feels good.

Tillie and I have both shared Leslie Ludy's book Authentic Beauty  with high school girls and know that that is a message worth sharing. She speaks of looking for a prince to treat us like a princess in a society where boys are not taught to value girls and how our true Prince is Christ. Leslie and her husband, Eric, also wrote, When God Writes Your Love Story another powerful book to share with young people.

Okay, so looking back Grease was not the best choice for my 9 year old daughter but since we can't go back and change it can I at least honestly say we enjoyed the play and spending the day together? Thankfully, kids grow up in spite of parenting missteps. Trust me in the scheme of her life this was a minor mistake compared to some of my other oopses along the way.

 So glad she loves me in spite of it all. In fact, we stopped by her friend's apartment after Grease and she told her friend I was a Goddess!  I had to write that here because I don't believe my name and Goddess have ever been in the same sentence together before.

In Him,
Joyful and feeling loved in spite of myself